Theatre Calgary’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ an artistic flex for director

‘Blithe Spirit’ by Noel Coward is an old standard in scene study for theatre students.

Coward, a British playwright whose popularity hit a zenith point in the 1950s is known for his rich use of language and specific stage directions within the script. His work can be high brow, with an advanced vocabulary and vital subtext to be played between the lines.

The constraints and expectations of producing a Coward show have been a wonderful challenge for director Nikki Loach, who readily admitted she had to Google definitions regularly.

“I had to look up 10 words on every page… the word I keep coming up with is ‘puerile,’ like what does ‘puerile’ mean? So it’s very different from L-O-L  that we say today, it’s like really beautiful words that are really scrumptious,” she said.

Loach’s other job in the Calgary arts scene is as artistic director for Quest Theatre.

A Theatre for Young Audiences company that creates original productions, offers artist residencies for K-12 schools and runs summer camps.

Her regular gig is all about following the magic of childhood wonder and adapting to different production locations on the fly. While shows at Quest are adaptable, Coward’s script can be uber specific.

Loach recalls that during blocking she had to kowtow to the text.

“He is very hard to contradict, he was kind of directing when he was writing,” she said.

At one point, she had the actors all around a table on one side of the stage, and then realized Coward demands the scene take place at the fire place so they had to go back and rework the moment.

Loach calls it a beautiful challenge to work with such a well written script with the support of Theatre Calgary.

The plot of the show is that a famed novelist invites a local psychic over for a séance with a few friends as part of research for a new book. The psychic, who is known to be a flamboyant and kooky character, is sort of seen as a joke at the outset of the play, but her abilities are no joke as she conjures up the deceased wife of the host; who — by the way — is not happy he has remarried.

A point that ‘Blithe Spirit’ dovetails nicely with Loach’s other day-job is the escapism the show provides. ‘Blithe Spirit’ was a hit in England in 1941 during the blitz.

Loach says that during her research she learned the original patrons to the show had to step over the rubble of German bombings to get to the theatre.

“However, the play has absolutely nothing to do with the war at all, it is a sort of escapism and it was a huge, huge hit at this really weird time,” she explained.

‘Blithe Spirit’ runs at Theatre Calgary through to April 13.

Tickets can be found here.